Portsmouth vs Yeovil Preview

28 December 2012 08:24

2012 may well be the worst year in the history of Portsmouth Football Club and that would be compounded with a defeat to Yeovil Town tomorrow.

Team News

Jon Harley is banned after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season against Crawley and Gabor Gyepes will miss the game with a hamstring injury. Adam Webster and Lubomir Michalik should replace them.

Izale McLeod may well be restored to the starting eleven after his surprise omission on Boxing Day.

Glovers manager Gary Johnson will hand a fitness test to midfielder Sam Foley but is working with a threadbare squad following his team's 3-0 defeat at Bournemouth.

The Match

Pompey's final match of a torrid 2012 may not be played. Fratton Park is subject to a pitch inspection at 8am due to the upcoming downpour of rain. At least if it is called off the fans won't have travelled halfway up the country before knowing!

From a personal point of view, this period of the season has seen my interest in Portsmouth FC drop significantly. So much so that I had better things to do on Boxing Day than to watch yet another dismal defeat.

The purpose of this season is simply to salvage the club in January if the Trust are successful in taking over and then find a manager capable of rebuilding this shambles of a squad ready for what will suely be another slog in League Two next season.

With Pompey 12 points from safety once the deduction is confirmed, survival now seems like an impossible task but the hardest thing to take is the poor performances churned out by the mercenaries wearing blue before undoubtedly swanning off in January.

Guy Whittingham has talked about dropping Brian Howard and giving some of the fringe players a chance. I hope the captain is dropped and Liam Walker is finally given a chance.

As for our chances in this match tomorrow should it go ahead, who knows? Pompey won at Huish Park in the reverse fixture earlier this season and Yeovil are capable of as dreadful performances as Pompey have been lately.

But the Glovers will surely fancy their chances against a team that haven't won in eleven games and have only picked up 3 points from the last 33 available. No wonder so many fans have stopped caring.

For those who do care enough to go if the game is called on, then there may well be in for more pain yet.

Predicted Starting Line-Ups

Pompey

GK: Simon EASTWOOD

RB: Mustapha DUMBUYA

CB: Lubomir MICHALIK

CB: Ricardo ROCHA

LB: Adam WEBSTER

CM: Johnny ERTL

CM: Darel RUSSELL

CM: Brian HOWARD

RWF: Nathaniel MENDEZ-LAING

LWF: Scott ALLAN

CF: Izale McLEOD

Yeovil

GK: Marek STECH

RB: Luke AYLING

CB: Richard HINDS

CB: Byron WEBSTER

LB: Dan BURN

RM: Gavin WILLIAMS

CM: Dominic BLIZZARD

CM: Luke UPSON

LM: Jamie McALLISTER

CF: James HAYTER

CF: Paddy MADDEN

My Prediction

Like Crawley, Pompey have never played Yeovil at Fratton Park in a competitive fixture. So what are the odds that they will also leave the south coast with a win?